Winners from MTV’s Pimp My Ride claim the show was fake fake fake
In this day and age, it’s not surprising when viewers find out their favorite ‘reality’ show isn’t so real after all. Keeping Up with the Kardashians were caught taping completely fake scenes, Pawn Stars researches the items before they are brought in, and Breaking the Faith used cast members that already left their faith well before the show began filming.
Nevertheless, there’s always a shred of truth somewhere right? According to former winners of MTV’s classic show Pimp My Ride, not so much.
The Huffington Post recently reported on the accounts of three former Pimp My Ride winners about their not-so-real experiences: Jake Glazier from Season 4 and Seth Martino and Justin Dearinger from Season 6.
According to Justin, much of the tricked out accessories they installed were removed after the scenes were taped. Beyond that, it appears as though many of the modifications to the car were done with no intention of making them usable. An example of this includes a robotic arm installed in Seth’s car which was actually controlled by some guy sitting at a computer.
Jake, Justin, and Seth agreed that many of the accessories were low quality, didn’t work, or were so impractical they made driving the car impossible. LED lights that were installed in the seats would get too hot to drive with, doors had to be changed because they wouldn’t allow for seat belts to be used, and trunk accessories made it so the trunk wasn’t even able to close.
Besides the aesthetics of the car, the winners say little, if anything, was done to improve the mechanics. Jake claims his car needed a muffler but rather than installing one, a “fake exhaust pipe was installed to make it seem as if that’s what the car was supposed to sound like, ‘even though it was just lack of a muffler.'”
Sam agrees. “There wasn’t much done under the hood in regards to the actual mechanics of the vehicle. For the most part, it needed a lot of work done to make it a functioning regular driver, which they did not do.”
For the average viewer, this may come as a shock, but anyone who knows a thing or two about cars won’t be surprised by these claims.
Many of the tricked out accessories installed added a lot of weight- weight that wasn’t compensated for mechanically. Seth said, “They added a lot of extra weight but didn’t adjust the suspension to compensate so I felt like I was in a boat, and every time I hit a bump the car would bottom out and the tires would scrape inside the wheel well.”
Another surprising fact is the length of time it took to complete the work on these cars. It appeared as though the mechanics worked tirelesslessly to complete the transformations in a weekend when in reality it sometimes took months.
And what about the winners who were surprised when Xzibit knocked on their door or their over the top reactions when they saw their ride pimped out? Yeah, all fake too.
“Contestants were told to wait in the house and that at the door would either be someone holding something like a $100 Pep Boys gift certificate or it would be “ya boy Xzibit.” So the surprise of Xzibit at the door was real, but in maybe a weirder way than you expected.”
Justin and Jake agreed that their response upon seeing the car had to be rehearsed in order to capture a reaction that would make an impact on screen.
Jake recounts his weird reaction story, “I remember this very clearly, Big Dane, very big dude, he like puts his arm around my shoulder, kind of walks me around the shop for like 10 minutes and he’s like, ‘Listen, we put a lot of work into this … we expect you to be a little more f**king enthusiastic.”
Despite the troubles with their cars after MTV pimped their ride, all the winners agreed their overall experience was good and they would do it all again.
Are you surprised by any of this or is it all par for the course when it comes to ‘reality’ TV?
Photos: Myspace
